a primer on Christian conscience

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Romans 14:12

This is a good reminder that I answer to God for my actions. The context of this stern sentence is relationship with other Christians in matters of conscience. The temptation in these issues is to judge others, defend our own positions even if others disagree, and inevitably divisions in the church are the result. But the apostle Paul reminds us we are not the judge of hearts… God is. Furthermore, we should remind ourselves that God holds each one of us individually accountable. I believe He starts with my heart first!

2021 now makes it two REALLY HARD YEARS in a row. 2020 was all about uncertainty with a pandemic. 2021 has been all about disagreement over the new normal. This year, in my over 33 years of ministry involvement, I have seen the most divisiveness ever in churches… not just in my church home, but every church… every pastor I speak with is experiencing it. Christians aren’t getting the Bible’s message on how to handle conscience issues. A conscience issue is a concern that doesn’t have direct biblical commands to direct it. Se we are left to apply principles from scripture as we best can, and we also utilize our own comfortability and sense of right and wrong to navigate the issue. These sorts of things have become societal land mines now buried everywhere in the church: masks, vaccines, politics, and racial justice are probably the biggest right now. All these controversies are creating explosive chaos because conscience-honoring biblical truth is scarce among us. We have forgotten that God sees us.

From Romans 14 then, a short primer on loving one another while understanding differences of conscience:

• If I can only hold one position over another, I AM A “WEAK BROTHER”. (Romans 14:1-2)
• It is wrong to pass judgment on conscience issues. (Romans 14:3-11)
• God holds each of us accountable to Him for our conscience. (Romans 14:12)
• It is wrong to force a conscience issue position onto another person. (Romans 14:13-16)
• God is actually glorified when each person, in conscience and in faith, holds a different view! (Romans 14:16-19)
• Recognizing valid positions and refusing to fight actually builds up the church. (Romans 14:19)
• If I truly have the ability to understand and respect differing views, limiting my opinion actually grows the church. (Romans 14:2-23)